1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus for taking color images and an image pickup method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Digital still cameras and digital movie cameras capable of taking color images are now in wide use. Image pickup devices mounted on such image pickup apparatuses have photographic sensitivity to infrared light, too. Thus, when infrared light is contained in incoming light, not only visible light component but also error components due to the infrared light are contained in an output signal thereof and therefore the color reproducibility deteriorates.
On the other hand, a method is available where an infrared light cut filter is used for an optical system in order to remove the infrared light contained in the incident light. Nevertheless, the infrared light cut filter is rather costly and it also has to be placed within the optical system, thus imposing a constraint on a design of the optical system. Also, it is difficult for the infrared light cut filter to purely remove the infrared light alone and there are cases where the input of the visible light is also attenuated. In such a case, the sensitivity of the image pickup devices deteriorates and therefore the color reproducibility drops.